This book has discussed the basic concepts and teachings of the Buddha and presented them inthe order of how we proceed on the Path. Right Understanding is the first and the final part ofthe Buddha‘s Eightfold Middle Path.

The Path begins with Faith, then Knowledge, then Experience, and finally Wisdom.In the beginning chapters we saw the Buddha‘s greatness in being the fore-runner or directly orat least indirectly providing teachings on the following amazing accomplishments:

1. The Logic of the Four Noble Truths (the logic of a teaching based on the causes and cures toour everyday suffering).2. The Compatibility of the Sciences with Buddha‘s teachings.3. Life on other planets4. The evils of slavery and the caste system5. The equality of women6. The recognition of humans as members of the Animal Kingdom7. A meditation technique beyond relaxation, but also for wisdom8. The longevity (health) of the Buddha (killed at the age of 80 from poisonous mushroomsduring an age when life expectancy was 35 to 40 at best).9. Tolerance to other religions10. Humility of the Buddha

The above accomplishments are incredible when we consider that the Buddha lived nearly 2,600years ago, over 500 years before Christ. His teachings were so advanced that many teachers insecular and religious fields today have still not ―caught up with the Buddha‘s teachings. Forexample there are still some teachers and other leaders who are entrapped in old ideas, such asracism, sexism, or the belief that we are not animals, etc.

How did the Buddha know of these ideas, many of which would not be proven until thousands ofyears after his death? The answer is his wisdom through the enlightenment process. Anotherimportant accomplishment of the Buddha that has not been mentioned previously in this book isthe Buddha‘s humility. Considering the enormous intelligence and wisdom of the Buddha, hewas still incredibly humble. The Buddha did not claim to be a god or anything other than anordinary man. He could have claimed to be THE GOD or even one of the gods and the people ofthe time would have believed him and worshiped him as such.

The Buddha went further stating that there were other Buddhas before him and that there will beseveral more after him. There have been many other religious and secular leaders in history whonot only state that they are the best, but also that they are the only one or the last one. Theterm ―Buddha‖ simply means ―enlightened one‖ and can refer to anyone who becomesenlightened. The Buddha also predicted times in the future when his teachings would be verypopular and also other times when his teachings would almost disappear from the face of theEarth. The Buddha did not prevent his followers from studying other religions or even practicingother religions. This was the level of his confidence in his teachings and the height of hishumility.

Once Sariputta remarked, ―Venerable sir, I have such confidence in the Blessed One that Ibelieve there has not been nor ever will be nor exists at present another ascetic or brahmin moreknowledgeable than the Blessed One with respect to enlightenment. The Buddha responds,―Lofty indeed is this bellowing utterance of yours, Sariputta, you have roared a definitive,categorical lion‘s roar. Have you now, Sariputta, encompassed with your mind the minds of allthe Arahants, the Perfectly Enlightened Ones, arisen in the past and known thus: Those BlessedOnes were of such virtue, or of such qualities, or such wisdom?‖ Sariputta responds, ―No,venerable sir. Samyutta Nikaya 47.12

In that discourse, instead of agreeing with the bold praise of the Buddha given to him bySariputta, the Buddha basically asks him, ―Have you met every Buddha of the past, present, andfuture? Then how can you call me the best that ever was or will ever be? Such was theamazing wisdom, the intelligence, and humility of the Buddha of our time.

The Buddha talked about many of his past-lives. These stories are included in the Buddhistscriptures and provide examples of some moral points or to the workings of kamma. Most ofthose past-lives stories show the Buddha in the form of various animals. (Grey, 1994) We knowfrom statistical analysis that most or probably all of any one person‘s past lives must be asanimals by a sheer analysis of the statistics of the number of animals in the world. The Buddhawas not too proud and was free to admit that he had spent most of his past lives as variousanimals, including a monkey, rooster, and a snake.

The above-mentioned accomplishments give us great motivation and faith in his teachings. Aswe read and practice more, we become more knowledgeable about the Buddha‘s Dhamma. Thefinal chapters focused on the different techniques for practicing the Buddha‘s Dhamma whichleads to Insight experiences and finally to wisdom.

In mentioning the accomplishments of the Buddha you will notice that none of the legends of theBuddha are included in the list above. This is because legends are very common for religiousleaders. Most likely legends are created by early followers of all religions to help elevate thestatus of the founder of a religion. Legends for the Buddha are similar to legends for otherreligious leaders, including walking on water, multiplying food, etc. It is better to look atthe content of the teachings and seeing how wise they are and the content and character of ateacher‘s actions.

The Buddha‘s teachings are becoming more mainstream into the cultures of modern, developedcountries. This is due to the scientific nature of the teachings, the above-mentionedaccomplishments of the Buddha, and the timelessness nature of the teachings. As this progresseswe need to be careful in selecting Dhamma groups and teachers to belong to. Most cults andcult-like groups in Europe and North America have been Christian-based. This is becauseChristianity has been the dominant religion of Europe and North America for some time now.As the Buddha‘s teachings progress into Europe and North America, we can also expect to seemore Buddhist-based cults arising. This is normal and not a problem to any select religion, butrather to all religions. The reason for the arising of some cults is simply the greed and selfservinginterests of some teachers. Some things to look for and not-to-look for in choosing ateacher of Dhamma group:

1. Beware of teachers who tell you not to read. Reading is good, educational, and enlightening.They are most likely afraid that you will find out the truth (about some deceptive teachings thatmay be part of their group) and leave them.

2. Beware of teachers or groups who try to control your personal and private behaviors.

3. Beware of groups where the leadership is centralized in one individual. Look for groups thatare primarily democratically run.

4. Beware of teachers who claim full-recollection of their past-lives and make claims that theywere this famous person or that famous person from history. As mentioned above it is highlyunlikely that anyone of us were human before.

5. Beware of teachers who make super-human claims, such as producing material things out ofthin-air, routine healings, levitation, etc. It is actually rather simple to perform some so-calledsuper-human, super-natural feats through magic tricks, slight-of-hand, etc. Healings have beenperformed by clergy members from all religions, thus, healings never prove any one religion orteacher to be ―true.‖ In Sri Lanka around the beginning of the twentieth century missionarieswere arriving to try and convert the poor and uneducated Buddhists to Christianity. Col. Olcott,a famous Buddhist scholar traveled there to teach Buddhism to the people in an attempt topersuade the people not to leave Buddhism. His intellectual teachings were too much for theuneducated people as the Sri Lankan people became impressed at the healings the missionarieswere doing. Col. Olcott became frustrated and began performing some healings of his own. Thepeople responded favorably and remained in the Buddhist religion. Today Buddhism remainsthe dominant religion of Sri Lanka. (Humphreys, 1951)

Some healers are genuine and good as they heal people through the use of the power of the mindby the power of suggestion and faith (that it will work). There have been many people whoreally have been cured of psycho-somatic illnesses and in some cases, illnesses that were notpsycho-somatic. But, in too many cases healers have been using their techniques to show asuper-natural ability in the clergy person which does not exist and is actually for the purpose offinancial gain.

Beware of teachers who claim psychic powers and abilities. The Buddha did not deny theexistence of psychic powers, but would not allow his monks and nuns with those powers todisplay them. This is because it is almost impossible to display those powers without having theego involved. This can actually hinder the psychic in his/her spiritual quest. The Buddha did notapprove of people making a living or profit off the teachings, either. Any psychic who charges afee, you can rest assured is a fraud. If you carefully watch the so-called ―psychics at work, youcan spot their techniques. Typically psychics use probing comments and questions. Forexample, a psychic who claims the ability to talk to the dead will say something like, ―I seesomething white, I keep getting this white something in my head. At this point the grievingperson who just lost a loved one, inevitably says something like, ―oh yes, she had a white pursewhich she loved.‖ This white thing could be almost anything as the psychic sent that ―probing‖comment out on the ―fishing expedition. It could be a white dress or a white house, thepossibilities are endless. Or the psychic will say, ―I see the letter P. The grieving person mightsay something like, ―her second husband‘s name was Paul.‖ The psychics send out the probesand the unsuspecting clients fill in the blanks and then are sure that the psychic is genuine.One of the common misconceptions/myths of Buddhism is that it is ―new age. But this is notthe case as new age philosophies tend to use pseudo-science techniques such as psychic claimsand typically for profit. The Buddha confirms this with the following:

―I saw a woman, foul-smelling and ugly; moving through the air. Vultures, crows, and hawks,following her in hot pursuit, were stabbing at her and tearing her apart while she uttered cries ofpain. That woman was a fortune-teller in this same Rajagaha. Samyutta Nikaya 19.4

6. Do not expect too much of a teacher either. Do not expect every Dhamma teacher or evenany Dhamma teacher to be fully enlightened. Remember that they are human and will probablynot be that different from yourself. A teacher should have a good knowledge of the materialand have experienced some beginning Insights, but need not be fully enlightened. Judge ateacher by the content of his/her character, behavior, actions, and teachings.

If you can not find a worthy teacher or group in your area, no problem. Help yourself, as theBuddha said. You can be your own teacher or let the Buddha be your teacher. The Buddha is inthe ―state of nibbana, but his teachings are alive and time-less.-------------to be continued------------- yawares